Sometimes in a relationship, one party just doesn’t get where the other one is coming from. This is compromises are so important for a healthy relationship.

But what happens when one of the two refuses to compromise?

In today’s story, a man asks the internet if he’s in the wrong for telling his wife not to use the expensive chef’s knife to cut things like plastic or lemons.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITA for telling my wife not to use our expensive chef knife to cut plastic?

I do the majority of the work in the kitchen, whether that’s cooking or cleaning. Probably 95% or more.

Two years ago my wife bought me a $110 Japanese chef’s knife for Christmas.

The first expensive knife I have ever owned.

I have been babying it as much as possible, washing it by hand immediately after use instead of throwing it in the dish washer.

My wife, however, treats it like a $5 Walmart knife on the rare occasion she cooks.

It’s probably painful to watch.

She leaves it unwashed on the counter even after cutting lemons. Acid is especially bad for these knives which pit and rust easily.

She also uses it to cut through plastic packaging.

I’ve asked her to be nicer a number of times. It makes no impact.

Today she was making breakfast and I found her slicing through a plastic cheese wrapping.

I asked her (again) to please not do this because it dulls the knife and she knows it.

She said ok.

But she was lying.

A minute later she needs to open a sausage package. I said, you’re going to use the expensive knife again aren’t you?”

She turns to me and says “what should I use to open this then?”

I said “there are supposed to be scissors in the kitchen. Where are they?”

“Are the scissors going to be clean enough to cut?”

“Use one of the other cheap knives, then!”

He’s at his wits’ end.

There’s two of them behind her in the cabinet and I’m sure she knows it.

This just comes off to me as weaponized incompetence.

So I say “I know you want to use the good knife. Just do it.”

“No, I just want to know what you want me to use” and then she cuts the sausage packaging with the good knife.

I said “you know, this is like if I took one of your expensive dresses and mopped the floor with it and when you caught me, I said ‘what else was I supposed to use?”

She just doesn’t get it.

This was met with “I don’t know why you’re going on about this”.

Our adult kid witnessed all this and says “She gave you the knife, she can use it however she wants”.

So I’m petty for wanting people to treat my gift nicely for my own copious use of it in the kitchen to make them all food?

I am now hiding it in a cabinet and will continue to do so after each time I use it.

AITA?

The fact that he asked and she ignores it justifies his hiding his knife.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this.

Exactly.

That’s not how gifts work, kid.

She’s disrespecting his gift.

Yup.

The solution can be non-confrontational.

It’s a red flag.

By their own logic, it’s his knife, so he can hide it after using it.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.